Shadows of the Past
by Frank Exchange of Views
Summary: This series of short stories covers the events leading up to the Tka-Shrin'Yar espionage war, in the setting of the Gateworld Virtual Fleet world-building group.


Musings

May 7, 2011

Director Skree-Tkc-Hree'k flew through the water, it's digits pumping in unison as they propelled the segmented body under the calm surface of the pool, coiling like a sea monster as e undulated just below the surface of the waves, bringing it's nose-snout above the water every second for a quick breath.

Skree's mind was equally busy. Things were moving very fast indeed, he decided. Agents in the Lucian Alliance confirmed a second dialing of the Ninth Chevron by their own personnel after the Tau'ri had accomplished the same a few months prior. Two planets were already smoldering asteroid belts, and Earth and the Lucian Alliance were at each others throats.

This in itself did not unduly disturb Skree; wars were breaking out all the time all over the place, but the catalyst of this particular war was rather important, an Ancient ship, millions of years old, who knew how far it hand wondered and what it had learned? If e was a betting centipod, e would say that e would shortly be receiving a mysterious visitor with with express instructions to look into it. The Tka entity worked in mysterious ways, but in this case, Skree was fairly confident it would want a piece of that particular pie.

Earth's recent accomplishments in particular warranted more observation and infiltration, the Asgard legacy and the Ancient databases they had access to would no doubt lead to rapid advances in Tau'ri technology which the Empire would wish to copy.

Which brought about the question of how exactly e was going to get agents onto the Destiny. The ancient proof that held the key was readily accessible, albeit in a limited form, to the general Tau'ri public, as a game no less. It wold take time to solve it, but it was doable. Power was another issue; given the spectacular results of the first two attempts, Skree rather doubted the Empire would be using a naqudah core planet as a power-source.

Still... there were other ways, a more pressing issue was what to do once they actually got aboard. The ship was millions of light years from home; it would be simple enough for it to simply drop out of communications, a mysterious disappearance on the other side of the universe, no means to verify what actually happened. Still, it's gut told him otherwise. Discarding that option, e listened instead to his subconscious.

His swim faltered as an idea hit him. Letting his momentum carry it to the edge of the pool with slow strokes. Perhaps there was a way to kill two birds with one stone in the present situation. Lifting itself out of the pool, e began to compose a proposal.

Divine Intervention

May 10, 2011

Crisscrossing searchlights beat down upon the terrified crowd huddled together before the walls of the Lucian Alliance garrison, once a Goa'uld outpost then Ori Garrison now turned Kassa plantation. Armed Lucian mercenaries patrolled the edges of the crowd, eliminating any means of escape, and more looked down from the walls of the Garrison. The people exchanged furtive glances, keeping their eyes mostly on the ground, and occasionally making some fearful sound, cowering as the lights payed over them.

Sitting under a tarp erected on the roof of the building, the Lucian Alliance man in charge of the operation allowed himself a small smile. Dzet Kamali was fairly content, the uprising had been squashed with minimal physical damage to the plantation, and it had given him a opportunity to weed out any resistance from his workforce. Now the lesson had to reinforced one last time before he sent the pitiful villagers back into the fields.

As he surveyed the scene, he congratulated himself one more time on his insight into human psychology, the combination of darkness and bright light kept the villagers dazed and on edge, while the firepower on display and the carnage his men had inflicted drove home the point that resistance was futile. Now the villagers were almost totally broken, just one step away form providing him with a malleable workforce that he could really exploit.

Looking down at his timepiece, he saw that it was time for the crowd's final lesson, and gave the sign to a waiting assistant.

A light shone on behind Dzat, and his voice boomed through the speakers the Goa'uld had used to deliver similar rousing speeches.

"Well, well, well... I have to say I am deeply... disappointed.

I've tried to be understanding, but by doing this... thing, this gross disservice, after everything we've done for you. I find that, as the person tasked with your safety, I have to do things that I really don't want to do.

Unfortunately, you've left me no choice, you've broken the rules and now you have to be punished, because I clearly have to reinforce these lessons, in light of recent events!" Pausing for effect in front of the spotlight, me moved aside to let his men prepare the stage.

Quickly, a pole was secured in an upright position, and the space around it covered with bundles of twigs and wood. As the villagers saw this, the grew even more somber, some breaking out into tears, having recognized what was about to happen, having witnessed the event a few times when a Prior deemed someone a heretic or a blasphemer.

Dzet stood back, taking a seat while his men marched out the two ringleaders that remained alive and their families. As they were dragged out, they fought and screamed, and Dzet couldn't quite hide his grimace, he wasn't used to seeing death like this, he'd killed people, yes, came out of fights covered in someone else' blood more than once, but the raw emotion on display before him sent a shiver down his spine despite the hot and humid weather.

Picking up a torch held out by his lieutenant, he advanced on the people tied to the pole. Half were not even adults, two small children were crying into their mother's arms, while their husbands and sons tried to give false comfort, but one your woman was standing defiant, shoulders squared, trying to pin him with a murderous gaze. Whether it was youthful bravery, or the lack of caring that waited beyond despair, Dzet couldn't tell; but it gave him something to focus on, the raw naked humanity here could disturb him, but defiance; defiance he had no troubles dealing with.

"I hope that you all remember this lesson well!" With that, he threw the torch down and looked at the crowds before stepping back. The flames quickly encircled the villagers tied up, leaping across the fuel covered branches first, in a pattern designed to surround and then slowly devour to emphasize the "lesson" being taught.

The girl threw a furtive glance down at the flames before refocusing on him, then threw herself at the robes holding her, jerking left and right, beginning to sob as her struggles proved futile before hurling herself towards Dzet and screaming as hard as she could, a high pitched shrill cursing him to an eternity of horror and pain with it's raw, desperate fury, before she felt the flames wash across her skin and face and she let out a frightened yell flinching backwards.

After a second, Kaya peeked from behind closed lids, tears blurring the view before she blinked a few time to clear them. The slavers and their leader stood back, as if physically hit by some force, staring at a spot overhead, as flames cracked and hissed.

Looking up, her face was lit with a eerie red glow from the source of the fire. At the top of the pillar they were tied too crouched what she first took to be some creature, but then recognized as a woman, shrouded in unnatural red flames which flowed over her to fling her red hair every which way without harming her at all. It was the top of the pole that smoked and sizzled, blackened by the flames that flew from the woman's feet, throwing out embers into the light wind.

Sensing her gaze, the unearthly apparition looked down, trapping the girl with the force of it's look. As she stood, eyes watering from the fumes and heat, Kaya felt vulnerable in a way Dzet or his minions had never made her feel, this thing was not some simple slaver, she felt it's gaze grab on to her, forcing her to stillness until it examined the deepest corners of her soul.

Farha Shun'wei, Memetic Control Agent, Subversion Corps, Memetic Instrumentality Project, look down at the gird beneath her with intensity, studying her. She rather reminded her of herself before the Hidden Empire had adopted her, she thought, thinking back to her days as one of Kronus' subjects. The defiant display earlier; the unconscious skill she'd unnerved Dzet and his men with, yes. There was much talent here. Maybe she would be allowed to take her under her wing just as she had been.

Looking back at the men beneath her, she noticed the surprise wearing off when a cry tore through the silence.

"Agni!" the cry came form the crowd, a pleading question more than anything else, rich with the disbelieving hope of desperation.

One of the elders, thought Farha with a smile as she didn't recognize the voice. So their neural suggestions had been redundant after all, this was good, a lesson like this always worked best when the people already knew half of it. This was her cue. The Instrumentality project more often than not introduced ideas through more subtle memory imprints, but every once in a while, a physical demonstration of a myth was required to cement that idea.

The figure rose on it's toes, and with a feral snarl, threw it's arms wide, prompting flames to burst form her like wings, giving her a phoenix like appearance a she stood at the heart of the inferno and lighting up the whole area around the facility.

The action threw Dzet's mind back to it's most primal response of fight or flight, and he ordered the only action he could think of. "Open fire!"

Subtle But Significant

May 11, 2011

The apartment was a neat affair, probably because the couple who shared it were rarely home. A few books and papers lay about, forgotten by their masters when they cleaned up after a long night's work.

The door swung open quietly and a figure walked in, letting his kit bag drop heavily before turning back and locking the door, patting down the wall until his hand found the light switch. Flipping it, Jonas squinted at the light, blinking until his eyes adjusted. Lifting his kit bag in one hand, he went on to find himself some dinner.

"Isn't this a bit voyeuristic?" Asked a petite Jaffa sitting at Jonas's table.

One of her companions, a enormous centipede like creature, game a shrug-whistle. "It's a time honored tradition." It said as it's mouth-parts moved in tune to sounds they were unable to produce. "After all the official stuff, we kick back and observe the mark at our leisure. Personal observation can show give you a better impression of someone's character an immediate mood than any amount of psych-profiling can."

"Agreement, indicate observation his motions and body language, as well as how he interacts with his environment." Added a glass tank with a eel like creature swimming inside it, it's accented voice stretching it's words to sound like the play of wind on water as the top layer swirled about in tune to it's words. "He is tired, but not unhappily so, looking forward to his time off, no doubt, disappointed that his mate isn't here, but not worried, again, looking forward to some time together after an absence, judging from his state, if not the records we have on hand." it added, as a note of paper floated up in the tank.

"Tranquility, that's got to be the oddest avatar I've ever seen you choose, why the fish?*" Asked the Jaffa.

"Amused embarrassment It's technically a reptile, but I confess I've been feeling rather gloomy lately, I judged a nit of humor to be welcome. Amendment, addition And the ell makes for an amusing companion."

At that moment, Jonas took at seat at the table, oblivious to the assortment of entities focusing on him, and bit into his sandwich as the three paused to give him another look-over. As he bit down his food, a slight buzz drew his attention, and looking down; he say a small insect darting about. Pausing mid-chew, he slowly reached for the paper on the table and rolled it into a tube, then brought it down hard on the uninvited guest.

The three visitors fell backwards as the virtual environment snapped off around them, the Tka-Tko-Tka landed more or less on it's feet, but the Jaffa bell backwards on her behind, and the fish bowl defied physics by not shattering as it hit the floor, through the water leaped up a good ten centimeters in synch to it's indignant cry and the resonant ping of the glass.

"Must you insist on doing that?" Asked the Jaffa, addressing thin air.

"The coupling of physical sensation to virtual stimulus also a time honored tradition in the Empire, one that helps keep you sane I might add." Replied an elderly looking Tka with several diamond-ended beard braids, as another virtual environment faded into focus. "And it would seem Quinn is ready to sleep, you should begin the final checklists for your equipment."

As Jonas slept, half dressed in bed, too tired to take off the futuristic uniform whose magnetic stripes Jonas bemoaned due to their tendency to scramble magnetic storage mediums, a light breeze stirred the papers strewn about as the window opened.

Almost invisible to the naked eye, three starfish shapes floated on the air, climbed through the open window. Tale tale shimmers indicated the presence of their mimetic fields, as they floated above the floor silently.

"Alright," Said the Tka voice, as a tight beam laser shimmer between them. "Ja'ka, you can handle the wet work, we'll set up the gear."

Unfurling it's arms to expose sensitive field projectors to read the impulses and chemical processes that went on inside Jonas' head, Ja'ka's miniature droid body jumped up to the bed, rolling across the covered on it's translucent mimetic field. It's companions deployed the cylinders of solid state storage devices that would contain all the data gathered there and ran cables to Ja'ka.

Deep in REM sleep, Jonas never remembered his time at the SGC flashing before his eyes to be taken down dutifully by alien intelligences.

*Tranquility is in fact a member of the water life-forms seen in Watergate.

Sufficiently Advanced

May 10, 2011

Dzet ran stumbling through the Kassa field, looking back over his shoulder with a panicked look in his eyes, his clothes and hair singed, and his skin bearing the ugly red of multiple burns. The demon thing was behind him and gaining fast. Demon, that was what he called it now, no human could have been capable of the carnage that single thing wrought on his whole base in the past half hour. He'd seen the Ori's miracles, and this went so far beyond that. Now he ran out of blind fear, his clothes dirty from the falls he'd taken, his body bruised and burned, he was moved by sheer, desperate fear now. And as he put on a renewed burst of strength, his foot caught on a root and threw him head over heels into the rich black soil.

Farha gave silent thanks to the invisible co-worker who'd raised that root to trip her quarry as she ran among the rows of Kassa stalks, a fitting place to die for a drug lord she decided as she slowed down from her sprint to stalk in on the man picking himself off the ground. Not giving him a chance to run, she leap and planted a kick between his shoulder blades, sending him back down into the dirt.

"Well, well, well..." She echoed his own words back at him, in a voice she adjusted to take on the hissing, cracking characteristics of a burning log. Watching the effect it had on him as he turned over sent shivers of satisfaction down her spine. After observing his behavior for a month, she had no pity left in her to spare on the object in front of her that she didn't even consider fully human anymore.

Looking into those flaming eyes, Dzet's feat took on a undertone of desperation akin to what a cornered, wounded beast experienced when it finally faces it's attackers. Long past rational thought, Dzet's hand shot out like lightening, pressing down on the Ash'rak particle beam wrapped around his index finger.

As he began the motion, Rarha's body began reacting. At this range, not even the powerful fields that she used to run flames over the skin of her android body would protect her, and had she been human, she could have never reacted in time, but as it happened, she was not. The nerve impulses from her eyes moved through the optical nerves, bionano sub-processors recognized a threat and routed instruction around her central nervous system, directly to her muscles vie high speed fiber optic cable, bringing her foot up just in time to deflect the shot as he fired.

The whine of the energy weapon's discharge was punctuated by a loud crack that signaled Dzet's hand snapping in half as Farha's leg hit it at a speed of some thirty meters per second, wrenching the man off his back as the leg followed through and causing unimaginable pain.

Her colleagues surveyed the whole scene from above, and they reported that a large crowd was gathering at the edge of the field. Farha checked the distance and decided it was within earshot as Dzet screamed in pain. Her instructions had been plain, she was to impress, and to do that, she had to delay Dzet's death, much as she hated the man, she couldn't hep but cringe at the pain he must be feeling right then. When she was sure the screams had drawn the villagers' attention, she bent down and silenced whim with a flick of a sedative tipped toenail. The she let the flames roll off of her like water, covering the bottom of the Kassa field with a carpet of fire that burned everything it touched but leaving Dzet untouched, he would be pumped for information and then have his neural pathways adjusted to "cure" him of his Conscious of his agony, Farha snapped his neck, then let the incendiary compound leaking trough her pores from high pressure tanks in her bones out, increasing the circle of fire around her until her companions took over, spreading the fire to consume all of the Kassa.

Preparing to leave, she was turned back by the yells of the girl she had freed earlier. The fool was ruining towards her despite the rapidly spreading flames, she was already too far in to make it out unharmed at the rate the fire was spreading.

Kaya was couching from the smoke that rolled off the burning Kassa and covering her face against the heat as she stumbled forward.

"Agni!" She cried out, bursting into a fit of coughing as the smoke entered her lungs, "Agni!" She yelled again as the fire raced around her, until she realized how close to the flames she was, swallowing her fear, she began to move forward once again. "Agni!" This time more determined than pleading.

Walking out of the curtain of flame that trapped the gird on both sides, Farha frowned. When she'd leap down to stand in front of the girl and her family, standing before the vulnerable and their oppressors in an archetypical position of the protector, she'd had a lasting impact on the girl. Her dash into the flaming Kassa field had been reckless, but the source of that recklessness was much more important. If the girl saw Agni as a primarily religious entity and a object of worship, she would not be able to deal with the truth well, if, on the other hand, she did it out of a desire to do the same things that she saw, she would make a very good interventionist one day.

The girl had just seen her, and after taking one look, fell to her knees and began chanting something under hear breath.

A infrared laser flashed out form Farha to the gunship hovering overhead, "I'd like to bring her in, her skills are being wasted here."

"Affirmative, we win either way." The voice on the other end responded.

Nothing was lost from bringing he girl in for further study. If she was simply a zealot, then her memories could be wiped and memetic goals inserted then afterward returned to her people as the god's chosen messenger to spread the newly revived religion, around whose high energy core the legends would create a more secular series of influences. If not, she would likely choose some calling in the Empire, likely in the Instrumentality Project. The girl herself had made the extraction so easy by dashing into the field.

Coordinating with two mobile field projectors, Farha collapsed the fire-free zone around Kaya, altering the fuel used to cover the girl in blue fire, who upon realizing this, began chanting even more rapidly, until Farha put a hand on her and motioned for her to stand.

Her other hand, Farha threw at the Kassa separating them from the crowd, which instantly flattened and extinguished itself under the tutelage of the invisible gunship's field projectors.

As the gunship raced away from the burning field of Kassa, Farha looked back with the ship's optics. Another mission accomplished, she thought, as she poured herself a virtual drink. It would make the after-mission low worse, but she didn't really care. Somewhere down there people would be rushing around, picking up the meager possessions they owned and packing them so they could move to a safe planet, away from the Lucian retribution, but they'd never forget what they saw, and someday, when the Empire's Firebird emblem called, they would answer.

A faint poke at the edge of her consciousness alerted her she had an incoming call. Looking closer, she found it was her superior, a Tka who'd taken the name Rezzt. Feeling tired, she put him up on a two dimensional screen, refusing the fully interactive option. "Yeah."

"Shun-Wei, good job on the Kirpani job, but I'm afraid I have to call you in for another job."

"Typical Rezzt,," she slurred, mockingly "At least you don't waste my time."

"The Intel people need you to sway a potential defector, the psych profilers say your the best match. Congratulations, looks like you're the girl of somebody's dreams."

Farha sighed. " I can't come in person, things to do and all that. Do you need a recent neural clone?"

"They say they'd appreciate it, and you should keep your backups up to date."

"Live forever and die often, eh?"

Rezzt twisted his mouth-parts in his best estimation of a understanding grin, not that Farha would have been able to tell without the emotion-feed on the transmission.

"Alright, lest time course to a high bandwidth SWIFT buoy? Right, I'd tell the _Defenseless_." After a quick versification, she ship was on it's way to the nearest directional FTL comms , where Farah's latest mind-state could be uploaded and sent on it's way across the galaxy.

"Out of curiosity, who's the mark?"

"Earth, some hot shot FTL egghead named Amanda Parry."

Black Body Objects

May 13, 2018

"I believe this recent neural recording by Subversion Corps operative of one Jonas Quinn should be pursued in greater detail." One of nine black spheres, identifiable only by the alphanumeric designation on their faces said in a scrambled voice, waves of darkness radiating from it in tune to it's words.

"I concur, the matter of the entity named Ayana in particular pertains the goals of this council. A viable sample of Alterran genetic material could expend our understanding of the physical components required for Ascension by decades at least." Replied number 5, in the scrambled monotone that betrayed no identifying characteristics.

There was a pause in the white, unmarked virtual environment of the meeting, as they considered this.

"Agreed, we must attain a sample of her genetic material, the chance to study the genetic code of an Ancient is in itself a great opportunity that we have never had in the past, but the nature of the Plague that could affect them so also bears study, if it is somehow beyond the Ancient's medical capabilities." number 7 spoke up.

"I wonder at the state of her neural network." Mused 5. "The report indicated complete amnesia, but we cannot be certain that no memories survived, information on Ascension, despite our best efforts for the past hundred years, remains scarce. She revived herself despite total amnesia, so one wonders, were there memories and knowledge of the process buried in the subconscious guiding her, or was the response purely biological? How much of he requirement for ascension is held in the flesh, and how much in the mind?"

"A question we'll be asking for a while yet Five, Ayana remained on Earth for a reason, she could not Ascend to escape the plague, studying her could provide us with invaluable insight, but is unlikely to produce an outright miracle." Cautioned 1.

"On the subject of gathering more information, I believe we've grossly underestimated the usefulness of the Tau'ri, Jonas Quin's memories alone contain dozens references and direct experiences with Ascension related topics. But the Tau'ri have access to post-Plague ancient records in the Pegasus galaxy, I believe increased infiltration should be a top priority from now on." Said 9.

"Indeed, we must take care to direct them away from pursuing the topic in more detail, Earth's access to the informational databanks of the Asgard and Ancients represents the greatest anomaly in the Empire's time." He continued, posing a silent inquiry."

"Agreed" Echoed the others one by one.


End file.
